The present invention relates generally to windshield wipers for vehicles and pertains, more specifically, to an anti-lift device for interacting with an oncoming airstream which passes over a windshield to bias a windshield wiper toward the windshield as the windshield wiper sweeps across the windshield.
Anti-lift devices have been used in connection with vehicle windshield wipers for some time now. In general, these devices rely upon interaction with the airstream which passes across the windshield to resist any tendency toward lifting of the windshield wiper from the windshield and to bias the windshield wiper against the windshield. Thus, vane-like members usually are employed to establish reaction forces which are directed toward the windshield and thus urge the windshield wiper against the windshield.
However, during use, a windshield wiper sweeps through a predetermined arc of movement across the windshield, thereby continuously changing the angle of incidence of the airstream on the vane-like members, with the result that the biasing force varies as the windshield wiper traverses the arcuate path of travel. Consequently, the force with which the windshield wiper is urged toward the windshield is not consistent and may become ineffective to hold the windshield wiper against the windshield in at least some positions of the windshield wiper within the arc of movement.